Yglesias and Left smear Palin and Bachmann in Giffords shooting

John Guardiano

John R. Guardiano is a writer and analyst in Arlington, Virginia. He writes and blogs for a variety of publications, including FrumForum, the American Spectator and The Daily Caller. Follow him at his personal blog, <a href="http://rescon1.com/"> ResCon1.com</a>, and on Twitter: @Rescon1</a>.

As I write (early this evening), Arizona Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is fighting for her life after being shot in the head during a constituency event outside a grocery store in Tucson.

For most everyone, regardless of their politics — Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, Right and Left — this is a sad, horrific and tragic event. And in fact, if you look at most Twitter and blog feeds, you’ll see a widespread outpouring of prayerful mourning and concern.

One notable pundit, however, has had a different reaction. The reprehensible Matthew Yglesias of the Center for American Progress has rushed forward to try and politicize this event in a despicable attempt to score cheap political points for the far Left.

Disgustingly, Yglesias blames Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann for creating a political climate in which “violent rhetoric and imagery” apparently incite people to murder.

“A reminder that gun imagery and electoral politics don’t mix that well,” Yglesias opined on Twitter, while referencing a flier published by Palin’s political action committee, SarahPAC. In the flier, Palin “targeted,” with crosshairs, 20 House Democrats for defeat.

These Democrats, the flier noted, voted for Obamacare and yet represented districts that had voted for the GOP presidential ticket in 2008.

Yglesias also referenced a Huffington Postarticle in which Rep. Bachmann reportedly said, “I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous” to block global warming legislation.

That sounds ominous, doesn’t it? There’s only one problem: Bachmann clearly was using “armed and dangerous” in a metaphorical and political, not literal and violent, sense. In fact, she quite clearly meant “armed and dangerous” with information, not bullets.

See for yourself. Here’s the full transcript of Bachmann’s remarks.

Really now in Washington, I’m a foreign correspondent behind enemy lines. And I try to let everyone back here in Minnesota know exactly the nefarious activities that are taking place in Washington.

But you can get all the latest information on this event. This is a must-go-to event with [the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s] Chris Horner. People will learn. It will be fascinating.

We met with Chris Horner last week, 20 members of Congress. It takes a lot to wow members of Congress after a while. This wows them.

And I am going to have materials for people when they leave. I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax: because we need to fight back.

Thomas Jefferson told us, “Having a revolution every now and then is a good thing.” And we the people are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country.

And I think this has the potential of changing the dynamic of changing freedom forever in the United States. And that’s why I want everyone to come out and hear [Chris Horner]. So go to Bachmann.house.gov and you can get all [of] the information.

Reid Wilson, the editor of Hotline, then reported, via Twitter, that Bachmann said, “My tears are flowing, and I am stunned and angered that Gabby Giffords was savagely gunned down.”

To which Yglesias responded: “If Bachmann is “stunned and angered” by [this] shooting, why did she call for “armed and dangerous” resistance to Waxman-Markey?”

My, my. Talk about intellectual dishonesty. Have you no sense of decency, Sir? At long last, have you no sense of decency?

Of course he doesn’t. Yglesias is a tool of the rabid Left. He sees people only in political, and not human, terms.